Next Wiimotes may integrate MotionPlus

By Ellie Gibson Published 17 July, 2008

Nintendo has yet to make final decision.

Nintendo's Eguchi has revealed that future iterations of the Wii remote could have MotionPlus technology built-in.

As revealed at E3 earlier this week, the new Motion Plus add-on currently exists only as an extra peripheral that slots into the bottom of the regular Wii remote. However, that could change in the future.

"As to looking at whether or not it will be an attachment or built in - we're always looking at how hardware should evolve and where we should take it," Eguchi said, speaking at an E3 developer roundtable.

Apparently Nintendo can't decide if MotionPlus should be integral to Wii remotes, or if "it might be good to keep it as an attachment we only use for certain software".

"Unfortunately I don't have a definite direction to give you today, but it's something we'll be looking at."

Earlier in the Q&A session, Eguchi dismissed suggestions the Wii MotionPlus add-on is designed to do what the Wii remote was supposed to do in the first place. Responding to a question from an IGN journalist, he said, "Of course, you always want more, and as we were working on the title we thought it would be nice to have more than what we had.

"But we're not dissatisfied with [the original Wii Sports] at all. We're very happy with what we did." He added that he's confident the original Wii Sports offers a "very good experience" for players.

In the future, Eguchi observed, MotionPlus could be used in more complex sports games. It would be possible to track the movement of a tennis racket head, for example, so you could pull off top spins or slice. "But we have to ask ourselves, is that easy to play? Is that something we want to do just because it's realistic?"

Nintendo is keen not to "alienate" players, continued Eguchi, and wants to "appeal to wide audiences" as well as serious gamers. That means offering "a low difficulty hurdle at the beginning, then finding ways to add depth to the game and keep everyone happy".

He concluded, "People who are really good at gaming can of course move on and challenge themselves to do these things that are built into the game, or to try things out on their own." As the saying goes (or rather is literally translated), "We want a gaming experience where 'the more you bite, the more flavour you get'."

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About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ryze #1 4 years ago

    hmmm...

    Where's the article that details MotionPlus's capabilities, then?

  • pervertron #2 4 years ago

    Hrm... I'm just not sure that increased accuracy is going to appeal to the mass market that the original Wii Sport has been so successful with. Wii Sports was accessible precisely because you didn't have to do very accurate movements for bowling, boxing, tennis etc. and levels the playing field so that people who can play those sports had to compete at the same level.

    It also brings up the aspect of safety - will a game have to walk you through minutes of warmup/cooldown to prevent muscle strain lawsuits?

    Wii is obviously not going to be the console of choice for disabled customers either...

  • Darkedge #3 4 years ago

    It is doing what the Wiimote should've been - if it had been accurate it wouldn't be so much of a gimmick. The blatant screwups that the wiimote currently does leading to much frustration would be avoided with the extra sensor - this is applying a band-aid to a mistake.

  • tobsen #4 4 years ago

    So does this Motion Plus thing also improve the Wiimote handling in any Wii game, or only in those who are specifically designed for it?

  • Prime #5 4 years ago

    Either build it into the Wiimote or package it with new existing Wiimotes.
    The fuck I'm buying two separate items.

  • CallousB #6 4 years ago

    "Wii is obviously not going to be the console of choice for disabled customers either"

    Depends on you disability. If you only have one arm then it would likely be your console of choice.

  • Bartacus #7 4 years ago

    Of course they should integrate motion plus into the current the controller design.

    It's currently too imprecise, unless its for a game collection aimed at kids, grannies or an undemanding Nintendo fanboy/girl.
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 12:08

  • monkie_king #8 4 years ago

    If the Motion Plus is that accurate, then doesn't it need to assume it's hanging out the back of the remote? If they build it in, it'll give slightly different readings, unless they make the integrated remote longer.

  • iancognito #9 4 years ago

    This sounds like it will be expensive.

  • brokenkey #10 4 years ago

    I thought you could already pull off top-spin and slice in Wii sports?

  • Dan234 #11 4 years ago

    If they integrate Motion+ into a new version of the Wiimote, the Wiimote+ needs to be the same size as the current one or they'll instantly feck up all of the accessories... or maybe that's part of the cunning plan to keep printing more money.

    That leaves us with old Wiimotes buying Motion+/larger jacket packs and complaining about the different size and cost. Or maybe the price of the Wiimote+ will go up to match the price of buying an old Wiimote then adding Motion+ separately, so us with old Wiimotes will just complain about the size and those with Wiimote+s complain about the cost.

    Then what happens if the Wiimote+ becomes the standard and people buy Wii Sports Resort with useless Motion+ dongles which they can't stop giving away because the user base of people with old Wiimotes is so big?

    This seems so well thought through...

  • Bumhug360 #12 4 years ago

    The most important thing they need to do is sort out hardware supply. This new motion thingy is going to ship with Wii Sports 2 which means another Wii Fit/Wii Play situation where demand far outstrips supply

  • Evolution #13 4 years ago

    If they want developers to take advantage of it they need to spread the technology to their users. The best way would be to include it as standard with any new remotes.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #14 4 years ago

    Moan Moan moan. How precise is required to whack and old lady with a baseball bat?
    Thats all you pretend grown ups care about judging by every other comment containing the now derogatory "waggle" or "kiddie"
    Games consoles are fucking toys, get over it.

  • secombe #15 4 years ago

    In the future, Eguchi observed, MotionPlus could be used in more complex sports games. It would be possible to track the movement of a tennis racket head, for example, so you could pull off top spins or slice. "But we have to ask ourselves, is that easy to play? Is that something we want to do just because it's realistic?"

    I love the sound of the MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort, but this does frustrate me a little. The success of PES 2008 (hugely complex, initially) surely proves that there is indeed a market for more advanced games as well as the family stuff?

    I'm looking forward to the days when we get borderline sim-style Baseball / Cricket / Tennis games and I hope that day comes, because I believe there is a market for it and it would certainly almost be unique to the Wii in terms of level of control and interaction.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #16 4 years ago

    If the Motion Plus is that accurate, then doesn't it need to assume it's hanging out the back of the remote? If they build it in, it'll give slightly different readings, unless they make the integrated remote longer.

    If it's so accurate that the additional weight/length matters, then I guess any future "built-in" MotionPlus could just be callibrated to make allowances for this.

    So if you buy a separate jobbie and plug it into an existing remote, then it would be callibrated differently from any future "all-in-one" remote featuring MotionPlus. From the point of view of you playing the game, it'd be an identical experience, but the tech inside might be slightly different.

    If that made any sense!

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #17 4 years ago

    I'm looking forward to the days when we get borderline sim-style Baseball / Cricket / Tennis games and I hope that day comes, because I believe there is a market for it and it would certainly almost be unique to the Wii in terms of level of control and interaction.

    If I was EA/2K I'd be looking at intergrating Wii MotionPlus into the next Tiger Woods/Top Spin games.
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 12:59

  • Tiny_Tim #18 4 years ago

    "Depends on you disability. If you only have one arm then it would likely be your console of choice."

    ...Until you have to change the batteries

  • Rizzle #19 4 years ago

    Stunningly clever move by Nintendo, though - by shipping possibly dubious Accessory with The Casual Crowd's most expected sequel (Wii Sport 2), they can guarantee a lot of people getting hold of something they'd otherwise not understand. Can't argue with business like that really.

    On the other hand, we don't know it it's any good yet. Hope so mind.

  • MuppetThumper #20 4 years ago

    when they ship the Wii with next generation (Motionplus) Wiimotes I'll buy one. It makes total sense for them to start doing it as soon as possible to gain market penetration.

    Knowing Nintendo though, they'll leave it as an optional purchasable extra, just like the N64's memory expansion, the bastards.

    To anyone thinking extra precision will put off the masses - its far better to have the hardware to allow decent control and let the software engineers make the requirements more forgiving where necessary.

    Do it Nintendo, now.

  • YourMessageHere #21 4 years ago

    What tobsen asked. Does this work with any already-out game or only supported upcoming stuff?